# Americans do not select their doctors based on race

## TL;DR

This study finds that Americans do not choose their doctors based on the doctors' race, including for Asian doctors.

## Contribution

The study provides empirical evidence that Americans do not discriminate against doctors based on race in their selection preferences.

## Key findings

- Respondents do not discriminate against Asian doctors in their selection preferences.
- There is no consistent evidence of treatment effect heterogeneity across different groups of Americans.
- Americans appear to not care about the racial identity of their doctor in the context of this study.

## Abstract

To what extent do Americans racially discriminate against doctors? While a large literature shows that racial biases pervade the American healthcare system, there has been no systematic examination of these biases in terms of who patients select for medical treatment. We examine this question in the context of the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic, where a wealth of qualitative evidence suggests that discrimination against some historically marginalized communities, particularly Asians, has increased throughout the United States. Conducting a well-powered conjoint experiment with a national sample of 1,498 Americans, we find that respondents do not, on average, discriminate against Asian or doctors from other systematically minoritized groups. We also find no consistent evidence of treatment effect heterogeneity; Americans of all types appear not to care about the racial identity of their doctor, at least in our study. This finding has important implications for the potential limits of American prejudice.